For many years it was a tradition to throw rice on the newlyweds as they left the church after the ceremony. Then the unthinkable: We discovered that in our enthusiasm to celebrate the joining of this couple we had unknowingly been killing our little feathered friends as surely as an Exxon oil-tanker with the third-mate at the helm. Well, not really.
The truth of the matter is that many people believe this to be true because it has been stated as truth by celebrity advice-givers such as Ann Landers and Martha Stewart. The public apparently has yet to learn that advice from celebrities isn't necessarily any more "expert" than advice from the crazy old lady who lives down the block and is absolutely certain she can tell whether the baby will be a boy or a girl by how the mother sits down. In fact, rice is harmless, and even nutritious for birds.
Over the years this urban legend has been debunked on a regular basis but for some reason it is the fiction which has stuck in the minds of Americans, perhaps due to its gruesome nature. These days you're more likely to see wedding bubbles, rose petals, confetti and with startling irony: birdseed, at weddings by a longshot. The formerly ubiquitous rice is nowhere to be found. Yes, with the advent of birdseed we've actually gotten to the point where it is more important to make sure the birds are well-fed than whether or not the bride has to spend three hours getting birdseed out of her hair.
Ironically, it actually is bad idea to throw rice at a wedding. It's just that the reason has absolutely nothing to do with birds. Grains of rice are tiny, hard and tubular, and when they're carpeting the ground they make a pretty good mobile surface to roll-around on. Great if you want to roll-around. Bad if you're not expecting to. Many some severe injuries have wedding rice to blame.
So it's not such a bad thing that this tradition seems to be over, but now you know the truth. Spread the word and please, please suggest your engaged friends and relatives leave the birdseed at home.
Alex is a consultant for online gift shop, Gifts and Otherwise. The family owned store offers cheap wedding favors and all sorts of other wedding stuff as well as personalized gifts for men and women. Alex is recently married, but no kids on the way just yet!
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